The WA7 actually drives the HE-500 a bit better than WA6-SE. Also factoring in the built in DAC and the smaller form factor it has become one of our most popular choices. The WA6-SE though has more flexibility to upgrade tubes and also has more of our classic amp look. In the end since you are planning to use with those headphones i would go for the WA7.

The WA7 actually drives the HE-500 a bit better than WA6-SE. Also factoring in the built in DAC and the smaller form factor it has become one of our most popular choices. The WA6-SE though has more flexibility to upgrade tubes and also has more of our classic amp look. In the end since you are planning to use with those headphones i would go for the WA7.

I need something to replace the K340s I grew up with, and I don't know whether I should make a pit stop at the HD600s or just jump straight to these.

Could you tell me what do you think are the flaws of the HE-500? All I see is praise, but I'm more interested in potential issues.

What's scaring me is how GoldenEars' measures them somewhat similar to the Momentums (!!), which I have and am not very pleased with. The dip at 4-5KHz leads to a quite notorious lack of presence and the HE-500 seems to have dip at around the same place...

I need something to replace the K340s I grew up with, and I don't know whether I should make a pit stop at the HD600s or just jump straight to these.

Could you tell me what do you think are the flaws of the HE-500? All I see is praise, but I'm more interested in potential issues.

What's scaring me is how GoldenEars' measures them somewhat similar to the Momentums (!!), which I have and am not very pleased with. The dip at 4-5KHz leads to a quite notorious lack of presence and the HE-500 seems to have dip at around the same place...

Lack of depth (biggest for me), little height as well. Incoherent centerstage at times, although exceptionally well at the sides. Bass while exceptional, can seem a bit off in it's staging when driven off speaker amps because HE-500's get much wider (found this to be true with Emotiva mini as well as Marantz speaker amps). Although I ended up getting more adjusted to it over time. With other headphone amps, I didn't have the bass staging problem as the soundstage was never that wide to show the flaw. I'd say that all of my points can be argued against by different members and that's fine. However, I do feel strongly about the lack of depth. It got a bit annoying and made me want for more after 2 months in, despite the great sound signature. Also, the velour stock pads are kind of annoying in terms of fit. Overall, would recommend.

Btw, anyone know of a formula to figure out power output in watts at different ohms ? I know the Emotiva is rated at 50wpc for speakers but would like to calculate the wattage at different HP's loads. Thx.

You can indeed calculate - to some point. We are talking ohms law here, so it is very straight forward.

BUT (!) the amount of volts an amp can deliver without distortion at a given impedance, will slowly go down as the impedance drops. So, at 8 ohms an amp might be able to deliver 20 volts (same as the emotiva, this equates 50W), but at 600 ohms it might be able to deliver somewhere around 30-50 volts without distorting (I don't know, just a guess). Therefore the max power at 600 ohms would not be the expected 666 mW, that 20 volt yields, but probably more like a couple of watts.

You cannot really know how fast the usable voltage will decline as the impedance goes towards zero. But we do know that the emotiva will be able to deliver more than some 700mW into 600ohms. The question is how much more...

Some tube amps even have lower max power output at lower impedances. The project sunrise ember would deliver 1.8 watt into the k701, but only a little over a watt into the HE-500.

my god i actually did it!! my very first mod!! me..the one with the two left hands..but with utmost determination and with little help and advice from Jerg i got to the product u can see on the pics....thanks man!

my hands are painful and two fingers are bleeding as the metal i used (on advice of jerg) was razorsharp! and it took 2 tries and 3 hours to actually get to what i did now..hope its good enough to be called a jerg grill mod ..the silvery color looks kind of classy on my he500..dont u think so? didnt had the chance to listen to the phones after mod..as i just finished it and now my keyboard is being bled over..

but tonight i will do a little review...a few lines only...as it has been talked about on another thread for months now

Looks good. The only thing you may want to do is add a material behind the grill to protect the driver from dust and pet hair(I think you said you had a cat). A pair of pantyhose stretched behind the grill and then trim it around the mounting ring does the trick with no sound change what-so-ever. I left mine open as well at first and had significant dust on my driver after about two months (own a dog and a cat).

Looks good. The only thing you may want to do is add a material behind the grill to protect the driver from dust and pet hair(I think you said you had a cat). A pair of pantyhose stretched behind the grill and then trim it around the mounting ring does the trick with no sound change what-so-ever. I left mine open as well at first and had significant dust on my driver after about two months (own a dog and a cat).

Like I mentioned in the other thread, it's up to the owner's discretion whether or not to add dust protection with the regrilling mod based on their circumstances. I don't have any pets, and I've always had fully open grills on my HE400 (owned for 9 months now) and HE500 (7 months) which are always kept out in the open when not in use; neither has any real dust accumulating on the drivers.

Looks good. The only thing you may want to do is add a material behind the grill to protect the driver from dust and pet hair(I think you said you had a cat). A pair of pantyhose stretched behind the grill and then trim it around the mounting ring does the trick with no sound change what-so-ever. I left mine open as well at first and had significant dust on my driver after about two months (own a dog and a cat).

yep i do have a cat....u have a good memory but since 1 month he is living at my folks in law...he kept on destroying my furniture with his nails....with them he has a huge garden closed garden to play in..he knows that house very well as when we went on holiday he stayed there many times already..and my daughter of 10 is allergic for cat hair we recently found out!. so no cat hairs in my home now..

but ru sure using a cloth over the grille doesnt affect the sound? as if i am not mistaken somebody stated it did...i think it was jerg who said that...well..thanks for ur advice anyway..i apreciate it!!!..i will try it first without the dust protection..and check it weekly..if it does get dusty then i will buy some black nylons/panyhose to use on my grille..